Deck the Walls
by nherbie
Summary: Christmas is approaching and Kensi is annoyed with Deeks. About what? Happy Holidays!


A/N – this is based on a prompt from OhBuddy66: "I thought it would be a neat little story if Kensi sees all the Christmas cards from old clients and friends Deeks does receive at this time of year."

Merry Christmas!

~,~,~,~

Kensi looked up when the door opened. The first thing she saw was the bag from a local bakery that she loved in her boyfriend's left hand. Her stomach grumbled in response. The second thing she noticed was the stack of mail in his other hand.

"Seriously Deeks? More Christmas cards? This place is starting to look like a Hallmark Store!"

"What can I say? 'Tis the season!"

He handed her the bag of donuts, sat on the couch next to her and began the ritual of opening the cards. This was their first real Christmas together. Last year they had gone all in right before Christmas and had almost immediately headed to Mammoth. This year was different. This year there was a tree and presents and they were pretty much living together.

She knew Deeks and Callen both kept post office boxes for their viable aliases and they all did the same under their own names. That way no one could track them to their homes because of a carelessly discarded piece of mail. Both she and Deeks had gone paperless. All their billing statements went to an NCIS protected email address. Both also had automatic payments set up in the off chance that they were out of touch on a case, so their bills were always paid on time. She figured Sam and Callen both did the same. Because of this, they generally didn't check the boxes very often, just enough to see if there might be an actual letter in it or to clean it out of all the credit card offers. About two weeks ago Deeks had started to check his boxes more often. He would go out for a run every couple days before work or on the weekend, like today, and return with a bag of goodies for her and a stack of mail for him.

She looked around the living room. There were cards on the mantel, cards on the end table and cards on the bookcase. He had strung up ribbon on the wall to hang up the overflow. Each time he came back, there were more. There had to be over 70 cards in this one room and it was still six days until Christmas. He had to have at least another 10 to 12 in today's stack. He had even gotten a couple addressed to Max Gentry. When she'd scoffed, he'd reminded her of what he'd said over comms when he was undercover with Monica. Max Gentry could be charming if he wanted to be. Most of the cards, however, were addressed directly to him. She wondered if she was just a little jealous of how many people thought of him at this time of year, how many saw the kind and gentle man she had come to know.

She watched as he went through the pile, checking each return address. Sometimes he would frown as if he couldn't place the name, other times he would smile gently as he did. Once he'd gone through the whole stack, he would open each card carefully and read it fully. Then he would get up and place it with the others. Once that was done; he would return to the couch and open the next one. It drove her nuts and just plain annoyed the hell out of her. She would have just opened them all at once and then stuck them wherever. When she'd asked him why he opened each one so meticulously, he'd said that if someone had taken the time and effort to send him a card, the least he could do was to treat it with the respect it deserved.

She watched him work his way through the pile and a thought occurred to her. She knew his childhood hadn't been good, she was sure Christmas hadn't been a joyous time of year for him and his mom. She also knew that he and his mom hadn't had much money after his dad went to jail. In fact, they'd had a hard time keeping a roof over their heads. Even today, he and his mom didn't exchange gifts. She remembered her own Christmases spent alone, no one to wake up to, no one to buy presents for, no one to get them from. It was a sad and lonely feeling, especially when you saw so many happy people out doing their shopping, talking about who they were going to spend Christmas with. Add in all the happy Christmas specials you just couldn't seem to get away from, unless you didn't turn on the television or watched DVDs exclusively, and Christmas was a day to be endured.

She knew she'd gone overboard this year but it was their first and she kept finding something else she just had to buy for him. He'd been as bad and the presents under the tree were reaching mammoth proportions. The funny thing was he noticed immediately if there was new one under the tree. She'd even tried to hide one behind the others but he'd known that things had been moved and ferreted the new package out. His childlike wonder as he shook and squeezed each gaily wrapped package had made this Christmas extra special for her. She had avoided the bags she usually used, figuring he would sneak a peek into them while she wasn't looking.

Now, watching him open each envelope, she realized that, in prior years, these cards may have been the closest thing he ever got to a Christmas present. Her realization turned the routine from annoying to endearing and she scooted closer to him, peeking over his shoulder at the card he currently held in his hand. He looked at her in surprise. This was the first time she'd shown any curiosity about the cards he received.

"What's up Kens?"

"I wanted to see who the cards were from."

"Why all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. Maybe because they obviously make you happy and I want to be part of it."

He smiled at her and turned slightly so that she could read the return envelope of the next card, knowing she would recognize the name.

"Jenny Radler? I thought you said she wasn't on your Christmas card list that time she got abducted?"

"She's not but I'm on hers now. I don't send out cards to everyone who sends me one. I'd never get through them all. Jenny started to send me cards after the Vargas case. " He paused and then continued self-consciously. "I may have helped her get a real job and a place to live."

"May have?"

"Okay, I did. I knew someone that was looking for a bookkeeper and he hired Jenny based on my recommendation. I also knew someone who had an empty apartment who was willing to let her live there for less the normal rent. As she gets more of a cushion behind her, the agreement is that the rent will gradually go up until its back to market."

"Why would this person do that?"

"His brother is a schizophrenic and has ended up on the streets several times when he's gone off his meds. He can't seem to help him so he agreed to help Jenny."

"Wow, that's really nice of him. Not many people would do that!"

"Yeah, Peter's one of the good ones."

"Did you get a card from him too?"

"Yup, it's on the mantel."

He got up and placed Jenny's cards with some others. It was then that she noticed the pattern. How had she missed this? Her OCD boyfriend, who looked like the messiest person in the world, had grouped all the cards together by what was on the front. Santa's with Santa's, snowmen with snowmen, winter scenes with winter scenes, like animals grouped together. That was probably one of the reasons why he placed each one after it was opened instead of waiting until he'd opened the whole pile. She giggled and he looked at her in confusion.

"What's so funny?"

"You match up all your cards based on the front. I just noticed."

He looked at the cards and noticed it for himself for the first time. He blushed a little and looked at her sheepishly. "I guess I do."

"Well, I think it's very nice and, believe it or not, very you."

"Very me?"

"You are a little obsessive compulsive about some things."

"I am not!"

"Says the man who vacuums all the time!"

"I have a dog that sheds and I surf! I'm always dragging sand into the house."

"Anything you say Shaggy." She grinned at him, letting it be known that she was only humoring him. Out of curiosity she asked "So, are all the cards addressed to Marty Deeks from when you were a lawyer?"

"The majority, but not all. Some are from people I met when I was a beat cop, others from when I first became a detective. I even get a few from when I was undercover, once my cover wasn't needed any more and they found out who I really was."

"Oh, do you get one from Monica?"

"Kensi! Really? You're going to go there? You know she wasn't happy with the real me, she preferred Max. Besides, I almost put her in prison. Only the fact that her information led us to recover the nukes kept her out. I doubt she's ever going to want to think of me again, let alone send me a Christmas card!"

"Oh, I don't know. Sam told me Callen gets a Christmas card from Janvier every year."

He looked at her, open mouthed and stunned. Finally he shook his head and said "I've got nothing, nothing to say to that."

"Tell me about it! Now, let's get on to the other cards."

He grinned at her, sat back down and picked up the next card off the stack. He laughed at the return address on it, knowing that the card inside would be something designed especially to make him smile.

"Who's that one from?"

"Kip."

"Ohhhh! Let me see!"

"Still the fangirl, I see!"

This time it was Kensi who blushed. She had to admit to having a little crush on Kip Brigham. After all, he was a major league basketball player, good looking and totally built. Plus, he had the added attraction of being one of the few people she'd met who'd known Deeks for years. She'd tried to pry information out of the man on more than one occasion about those early years, but Kip was remarkably loyal to his buddy and would only divulge small facts, all of which showed Deeks in a good light.

The card was exactly as wiseass as Deeks had expected. A photo card of a smiling Kip in a Santa suit surrounded by his fleet of cars. Under the picture were the words "Santa certainly knows who's good! Must not be a Clippers fan!" Everyone knew Deeks was a major Clippers fan even though one of his best friends played for a rival team. He got up and pinned the card to the ribbon with other photo cards, wondering again how he hadn't noticed how he hung them.

Sitting back down on the couch, he picked up the next card. He frowned and didn't seem to want to open this one.

"What's wrong?"

"The return address is for the daughter of an old client of mine from when I was a Public Defender. Cilla was a nice old lady who got into trouble shoplifting food. She didn't have much money and didn't want to be a bother to her children. It was a choice between paying the rent and eating. She paid the rent. She got hungry enough to steal some food from a local market and got caught. I helped her out. Put her in touch with agencies that help people in her situation. I helped her daughter make her understand that she could never be a burden to her. Cilla ended up moving in with Margaret and her family. They were all very happy to have her. She sends me a card every year and they all sign it. This year it's Margaret's name on the return address. "

"You're worried something had to have happened to her?"

"Yeah." He said softly.

"Open it Deeks, you won't know until you do and not knowing is the worst."

He looked at her, knowing she was referring to the Internal Affairs investigation that had come to a head several weeks ago, ending with him in jail for murder. Hetty had worked her magic and another man had been blamed. The burden of knowing that he'd actually been guilty had about crushed him until he'd confessed while they were on the stakeout of the toy store. The fact that, not only had she figured it out before he told her, but that she'd already forgiven him, was the best Christmas present he could ever imagine or hope to receive. However, he knew that before she figured it out, the worry and concern about what IA was looking for had eaten at her. The not knowing, the worrying about what he was hiding from her. He kissed her gently, letting her know he appreciated her.

Turning back to the card, he opened it carefully and pulled out the card. Inside was a letter addressed to him. He read it with Kensi looking over his shoulder. Margaret had wanted to let him know that Cilla had taken a turn for the worse and they'd had to put her into a nursing home. She went on to say how much Cilla and her family appreciated all that he'd done for her and included the address and room number where Cilla now was, saying she was allowed to have visitors if he was ever in the neighborhood. He sniffed a little as he got to the end, remembering the older woman who had been so full of life.

"We'll go see her after Christmas is over. We have the time off from work unless a case comes up, we can just pick a day and go."

"You'd go with me?"

"Of course! I wouldn't make you go alone."

"Kensi Marie Blye, every day I fall more in love with you even though I think it's not possible."

She smiled at him and said "I hope that's reflected in my Christmas gifts." They both laughed as she repeated what she'd said after his confession about Boyle. "Now, go Deck the Walls!"


End file.
